Quick Update: AGV GP-Tech Helmet

Quick update here folks.

I have had a lot of emails about my GP-Tech and my experiences with it. I have been asked if it’s worth it, is it a nice helmet, what size should I get?

I think it’s time that I gave an update of how I feel about the whole thing.

AGV GP-Tech: Aye or Nae

Well lets start off with the most obvious question: Would I buy one again?

The answer is yes and the reasons are thus. I didn’t buy this helmet, it was given to me just as the GP-Tech version was released. This leads me to believe that I have one of the first batch of GP-Techs and therfore the problems that I have had with it are surely down to teething problems. So on that basis, hell yeah I would buy one.

This helmet is the best of what a helmet should be; comfortable, good fitting, well constructed, well detailed, great ventilation, good sound proofing. It’s a smart ass helmet as well, which counts for a lot.

It costs an arm and a leg to purchase this helmet, so on the financial basis, no I wouldn’t buy it because I couldn’t!

Next, What is the ventilation like? Is it better than a Shoei X-Spirit?

I dont know because I have never tried an X-Spirit or any other top bang helmet. This is the one and only time for a long time that I will own a top speccer.

I own a Shark S800, a Shoei XR-1000 and this AGV GP-Tech. Blair has a Schuberth S1. Out of all these helmets the GP has by far the best ventilation and that’s surpassing the “open face” feeling of the Shoei. It is a great ventilated helmet.

HOWEVER

The one failing of this helmet/brand is the visors. I absolutely love being able to see where I am going, and I am sure you do too. So when the visor steams up, you may have some issues with it.

The GP-Tech’s visor has a “mist free” coating on it. Now that’s great, but it’s not true. Aye for summer riding it’s ace, no steaming up whatsoever!

At the minute it’s the peak of Scottish rain fall and I tell you what, I don’t half miss my Shoei and it’s pinlock visor insert.

If you refer to my previous post, you will see what an ordeal I had going to work, this is a real deal breaker for me. If AGV incorporate pinlock in to their visors, they will be perfect to go with the excellent helmet. As it stands, it’s a total let down.

Ok, so what size should I get, I am a size x in a Brand Y helmet?

Again, I dont know because helmet manufacturers vary wildly with sizes. An XL in a Shoei might be a L in an AGV or Shark. A Large Caberg might be an XL Arai. Not only that but it doesn’t matter if you are large anything because if the helmet doesn’t fit your head shape, it’s over anyway.

To add another filter in to the mix, within brands like AGV or Shoei, the size of shell/interior varies also.

The best piece of advice I can offer anyone is to go and try the helmets that you fancy on at your local bike shop. The reasons are;

The boys at the bike shop know what they are talking about. They also have the power to discount the price of anything.

I once had my heart set on the AGV Ti-Tech Rossi Gothic and was ready with my credit card to buy it online. I papped out of it and headed to Scott Murray, where I tried on a Ti-Tech and it didn’t fit me. Infact it was borderline torture. Imagine if I had bought that helmet online and with all the online no returns policy for helmets, I would have been stuck with a £400 helmet that didn’t fit me.

The good thing about going to a bike shop is that they also have other brands sitting there. So if you get down and find that the AGV GP-Tech is the wrong shape or it’s too expensive, they will probably have something there that will capture your heart/wallet soon enough.

Another plan of attack is to get the size and helmet you want at a shop, then come home and buy it off the net for muchos cheaperness.

Now I have done enough miles in this helmet to know how it will fair over time and it shows excellent potential as a rock steady piece of gear for the next 3-4 years.

If you do opt for the GP-Tech can I offer you one really important piece of advice: DO NOT GET WHITE. It is the worst to keep clean, it’s the worst for stone chips and although it makes you stand out like a sore thumb, it’s also the one that makes people go, “Eugh, look at all that road kill, do you never clean your gear?” when you screetch up trying to look menacing, having cleaned it just before you left.

I like my helmet and its good enough for me to not want to get my Shoei out of storage. The comfort and safety feeling is just too good to revert back from. Unless I get some new cheek pads for my Shoei….

Thanks for looking guys,

Gordon